In a perfect world everything would run smoothly for a business owner. Unfortunately, many different factors can impact a business being able to function properly. Let’s look at a couple of examples to have a better understanding of this principle.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

The following video is of a boy who decided to do a bike stunt on a set of stairs. You can see in the video how he gauges the distance of the drop and comes to the conclusion that he has the skills to be able to make the jump. And he did make the jump, but he made one crucial mistake in his calculations. Him being able to make the jump and his bike being able to withstand that jump are two different things, which he found out when he ate the pavement. If you are squeamish do not watch this video.

He cleared the jump without a problem but he took in zero consideration regarding his bike being unable to make the jump.

• No helmet.
• No protective clothing.
• No consideration on using a different bike to make the jump.

Without a contingency plan, his face ate the pavement and his bike was destroyed. But hey, he made the jump, right?

Let’s Look at Another Example…

I often wrote about my problems picking a content management system. Finally, after using ExpressionEngine for a while, I settled on WordPress because WordPress has the tools I need built-in or are easily accessible. For example, at the time, to use tags I had to purchase an addon for ExpressionEngine when it was easy to add as an addon to WordPress and was eventually built into the core of WordPress. WordPress has automatic updates for the software and plugins, making it much easier to keep my site secure. I liked the way WordPress was finally evolving so I took the jump and I’m happy.

However, if the time comes when I become unhappy with WordPress I do have a contingency plan. First, I would try Movable Type because it accepts the WXR file from WordPress’ export without me having to mess with it. It would be a good time for me to revisit the content management system I started out on.

If Movable Type doesn’t work for me, then I would move back to ExpressionEngine. I bet you’re wondering why take the detour to Movable Type in the first place, right? Because ExpressionEngine, at this time, does not have an easy way to move straight from WordPress to ExpressionEngine. Unlike Movable Type they do not accept the WXR file and I would be shocked if they ever did because smooth touches like that has never been their thing (I can go on and on about how difficult it is to import/export data – it’s why I left in the first place). Let me be clear, the people at ExpressionEngine were helpful as I struggled to get my data working properly but I also lost entries and thousands of comments trying to use their product. ExpressionEngine is feature rich and a good product but not as flexible as I needed at the time.

Unlike the boy who wanted to do the jump without the proper equipment and gear, I have a plan that I hopefully won’t have to use.

Plans are a Good Thing but Don’t Over Do It

Using the example above, I have a two layer plan in the event I need to change content management systems. If I have to think of more parachutes to resolve a problem I haven’t properly accessed the situation. Patching problems usually leads to more problems. Resolve them once and for all.

One of the biggest slip ups in business or blogging is not considering the outside factors that may impact what you are attempting to accomplish. If your hosting company began to have too much down time have you picked other alternatives? If your database becomes corrupt do you have a viable backup of the database to use (ie: not a backup of the corrupt database)? If your competition is excelling at a stronger pace than you are, do you have a plan to combat that? These are all crucial elements to sustain. Without a good backup your site is toast. Without good hosting your traffic will decrease. If you can’t keep up with the competition, you’ve failed. Without the proper bike and equipment you’ll have an unnecessary accident when trying to do difficult jumps.

Most times, success is directly dependent on how well the plan is to get there.